Environmentalists opposed to Bedti Project

By R.S.Habbu

KARWAR, NOV. 12. Magod, a remote village in Yellapur taluk, is in
the news again. It was here that the karnataka Power Corporation
Limited (KPCL) planned to build a 111-metre high dam across the
Bedti river to generate power, as early as in 1978-79. However,
the project was opposed time and again by the villagers and
environmental groups on the ground that it would damage the
ecology of Bedti Valley, which was know for its rich bio-
diversity and displace a large number of families. Now again,
environmentalists are up in arms against the move of the KPCL to
take up the project.

The Bedti-Aghanashini Valley Protection-Committee headed by Sri
Gangadharendra Saraswati Swamiji of Sri Swarnavalli Math has
organised a rally of villagers on November 14 at Magod to oppose
the Bedti project. Mr. Anna Hazare well-known social activist and
reformer will participate in the rally.

According to Mr. Anam Hegde Asisar, Secretary of Bedti-
Aghanashini Valley Protection-Committee, the swamiji will camp at
Chandaguli Temple on the banks of the Bedti on November 13 and
offer a special pooja at the Sri Vinayaka Temple there before
attending the rally the next day.

The history of anti-Bedti project movement can be traced to 1980-
1981. A prolonged agitation followed by a seminar on the Bedti,
its valley and its ecological assessment, forced the then Chief
Minister, the late Gundu Rao, to stay the implementation of the
project.

But in 1992, when the KPCL revived its earlier proposal to build
the dam, the Bedti-Aghanashini Valley Protection Committee was
formed under the guidance of Sri Swarnavalli Swamiji.

A mammoth rally was held at Magod in September 1992 to protest
against the establishment of the Bedti Hydel Project, which was
expected to submerge 10,000 hectares of forest and agricultural
land. The swamiji held a padayatra for five days through the
villages in the valley to create awareness among the villagers.

The Union Ministry for Environment and Forests withdrew its
approval to build the project after a delegation, led by Mr.
Ramakrishna Hegde, Gundu Rao, Mr. H.D.Deve Gowda, Mr.
R.V.Deshpande and Mr. Dhananjay Kumar, met the Union Minister in
October 1992.

Then again the KPCL gave a new proposal in which the height of
the dam was brought down to 77 metres.

In 1995-96, the KPCL again suggested a run-of-the river scheme
and formed a committee headed by Mr. Chelvaraj, who was an
adviser to the U.N. Under the scheme, 16 mini-dams were proposed
across the Bedti at different points.

The Government signed a memorandum of understanding with private
companies to build six mini dams, but environmentalists opposed
the project again pointing out that it would also cause
ecological imbalance in the valley. A meeting between the
promoters of the project and the environmental groups ended in a
chaos.

On October 24, 1997, a rally was organised at Agsur village near
Ankola to oppose the scheme. As a result, the Government
cancelled the MoU with private companies to build the project.

Mr. Hegde said the KPCL had not given up the Bedti Project. It
has now finalised another proposal to establish two generators
with an installed capacity of 150 MW each. Moreover, it proposes
to augment the Kali Hydel project by diverting the waters from
the Bedti to the Tattihalla Reservoir by building a dam across
the Bedti at Kirvatti village.